Barbie vs Oppenheimer
This summer, two major Hollywood blockbusters are being released simultaneously at theatres, and there’s a hunger for betting on which will be the bigger hit. Barbie vs Oppenheimer is the rivalry taking over Hollywood, and are two films with totally opposite tones and each caters to a unique audience; it’s a perfect example of counterprogramming, a strategy that ensures a double-release of movies reach their own specific audiences. Which do you think will sell more tickets: the comedic tale of the Mattel doll, or the American scientist behind the Atomic Bomb?
While Barbie is marketed to women 34 and under and Oppenheimer is aimed at men of an older demographic, there are people who are keen to see both on opening weekend. In a recent trend that’s been dubbed Barbenheimer, memes have flooded the internet contrasting the stark differences between both movies. It has prompted many people to declare their intent of buying tickets for both movies on opening weekend. It will be a busy weekend at the theatres, so get your tickets early.
In the Entertainment section of our sportsbook, you’ll find several bets that include these highly-anticipated films. They’re both directed by big names and have massive stars in lead roles; Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling star in Barbie, and Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt star in Oppenheimer. In this preview, we’ll talk about the different ways to get into Barbie vs Oppenheimer betting and provide the necessary context for both films, including up-to-date movie odds.
Best Opening Weekend Sales
From Friday, July 21 to Sunday, July 23, the box office is expecting to make up to $150 million from Barbie and Oppenheimer alone. In the recent release of the Disney classic The Little Mermaid, $96 million was generated in North American theatres on opening weekend. So far, Warner Bros’ Barbie appears to be getting more traction than the Disney live action remake.
Warner Bros has projected a conservative $60 million for Barbie’s opening weekend ticket sales to be safe, but in reality, it will likely be closer to $80 million, maybe even $100 million. So far, presales for Barbie have surpassed that of The Little Mermaid.
Early estimates for the Universal film Oppenheimer are hovering around the $40 to $50 million-mark. Imax Theatres will be hosting the film in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and Czech Republic, but it will also be released in regular theatres. Christopher Nolan, the director behind Oppenheimer, released the film Dunkirk in 2017, and it brought in $50.5 million in its opening weekend sales. Oppenheimer is expected to have a similar narrative structure to Dunkirk. Be sure to check in with our Box Office Specials for betting odds as we get closer to the release date.
Best IMDb Reviews
When people want to know if a movie is good before committing to a ticket, they often check IMDb beforehand. This website has a database of user-submitted reviews of movies, television shows, documentaries and more, and all are on a scale of 1 to 10. It goes without saying that the rating has a big impact on the popularity of the movie.
To get a glimpse of IMDb’s rating system, there’s a user-voted poll on who the best director is (the directors all must have at least four films on the IMDb database), and currently, the top-voted director is Christopher Nolan, who has a long list of major hits before Oppenheimer.
As for Barbie’s IMDb page, it shows the current nominations and awards for the Greta Gerwig-directed film. It won the Most Anticipated Film award from the Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Awards and the Best Teaser award from the Golden Trailer Awards.
Best Actress: Emily Blunt vs Margot Robbie
Currently there’s a betting market for Best Actress at the 96th Academy Awards in our sportsbook. The leading pick is Emily Blunt (+200) who plays the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s wife, Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Kitty is a biologist and botanist in the Christopher Nolan film. In 2007, Blunt won a Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for her role of Natasha in the drama Gideon’s Daughter from the mid aughts.
Margot Robbie, on the other hand, has yet to take home an Academy Award, but she’s come close. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2018 for her portrayal of Tonya Harding in the biographical movie I, Tonya. She was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 2020 for her portrayal of Kayla Pospisil in the 2019 drama film Bombshell.
Best Director: Christopher Nolan vs Greta Gerwig
Best Director is a coveted award given out at the Academy Awards every year. In March 2023, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won for Everything Everywhere All at Once—a film that took home the hardware for seven different awards that year. Neither Nolan nor Gerwig have won Academy Awards yet, but Nolan was nominated five times overall (just once for Best Director for his film Dunkirk). Meanwhile, Gerwig was nominated for an Academy Award on three occasions overall, one of the nominations being for Best Director.
Interestingly, Gerwig and Nolan were both nominated for Best Director the same year. At the 90th Academy Awards in March 2018, Nolan was nominated for Dunkirk, a historical war movie from WWII, while Gerwig was nominated for Lady Bird, a coming-of-age story of a teenage girl growing up in Sacramento, California. In the end, it was Guillermo del Toro who took the award for the movie The Shape of Water, leaving Gerwig and Nolan hungry for a future award.
Barbie vs Oppenheimer betting is heating up in the sportsbook as we approach their shared release date. Be sure to get your vote in to see if your gut instinct proves to be true. This is going to be the biggest day in the theatres for 2023, so don’t miss it.
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